


Short 21 - Monkey Trouble

by stgjr



Series: "The Power of a Name" Series 2 - "Time Lord Triumphant" [18]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005), Multi-Fandom
Genre: Crossover, Gen, Multiple Crossovers, Multiverse
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-13
Updated: 2017-04-13
Packaged: 2018-10-18 10:15:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10614807
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stgjr/pseuds/stgjr
Summary: While fleeing a giant gorilla with Katherine, our narrator accidentally brings the beast with them to Republic City, and it will take all of his wits and the help of Avatar Korra and her friends to stop the rampaging beast.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This was originally posted on September 13th, 2014.

Sometimes exploring the Multiverse is exciting.  
  
Sometimes its extraordinary.  
  
Sometimes its even terrifying.  
  
And sometimes.... just sometimes... its just plain bollocks.  
  
What kind of bollocks, do you ask?  
  
How about being chased by a giant bloody monkey?  
  
Jungle vines and limbs obstructed me as I ran through the undergrowth, Katherine's hand in mine as she trailed right behind. There was a roar behind and above us. I glanced back in time to see a giant ape swing down toward us. I yanked out the sonic disruptor and hit it with a full Setting 4 blast, enough power to send it tilting backward into the nearest tree. It was up in a second and roaring again.  
  
Thankfully the TARDIS was around the corner. Having to run back to it was a pain, but when you're being chased by a big ape you can't exactly hold still long enough to remote control it safely. We rushed in. Katherine pulled the door closed behind us while I got up to the TARDIS control and pulled the lever to shift us....  
  
The TARDIS rocked heavily under our feet as the engine _VWORP_ ed. "Bloody hell, it grabbed us as we dematerialized!" I yanked at the control and brought us back out of the Time Vortex. The TARDIS still shook underneath us until it rocked hard, throwing us around as we held on desperately to whatever handhold we could find. I noticed the external systems were showing nearby life and went to the TARDIS door.  
  
Our monkey friend was standing in the middle of a street, howling at a passing car. It was old-looking, 1920s? No, not just 1920s... it was a Satomobile.  
  
"Well, at least the metalbending police should be able to contain that thing," I said to Katherine. "Although Chief Bei Fong is going to be rather cross with me."  
  
Indeed, the first policeman was already on the scene, riding a motorbike. The heavy-coated man drove the bike around the big ape and motioned the bystanders away... not that there were many left. The ape shrieked in rage and started slamming the ground around the motorbike, forcing the driver into some daring evasive maneuvers. He turned enough to see me and drove the bike over. As he pulled up and I could see his eyes through the visor I raised an eyebrow. Oh, of course. "Ah, finally signed up, Mako?"  
  
"Doctor, what is that thing? It looks like an oversized goat gorilla!"  
  
"Well, that's half right. It is, in fact, an oversized gorilla. It's from an Alternate Earth with megafauna and grabbed the TARDIS as I dematerialized." I nodded. "Good to see you've gone ahead, joined the boys in blue.... well, gray I suppose. Who's playing on the team though? I was going to take Katherine to a match when the season restarted."  
  
"Maybe we can discuss it when this giant gorilla thing _isn't_ wrecking the city?", Mako asked pointedly.  
  
He had a good point, so I focused on the business at hand. I turned and saw the beast was going after abandoned cars and wrecking them. "If we can knock the bugger out I can lash him to the TARDIS and take him home," I said, pulling out my sonic disruptor and set it to Setting 21, a setting custom designed to create splitting but very non-lethal headaches. "He won't like fire. Corral him to me." I looked to Katherine while Mako stood from his police bike. "Make sure everyone's out of the cars and off the road. We need time for the Metalbenders to get here and restrain King Kong over there."  
  
"Of course, Doctor." Katherine went down the sidewalk to find any bystanders.  
  
"Tally ho!" I shouted, motioning toward the beast. Mako gave me a skeptical look before we rushed forward. He went around the thing while I brought up the disruptor and triggered Setting 21. The beast roared angrily and thrashed about. As it drew closer to Mako he threw generated a fire to scare it off. It twisted and turned, frightened and upset and starting to lose consciousness. Everything was working fine.  
  
Naturally, that's when it went wrong.  
  
The beast flailed about and found an abandoned Satomobile to grab, which it threw at me. I had to dive for cover to avoid getting smashed by it. Which, of course, meant that as I scrambled to get back up it no longer had my sonic interfering with its head and was free to attack Mako directly. He jumped out of the way and generally showed off all of those hard-won dodging skills from the pro-bending arena. Unfortunately, this was being done against a fast and very determined gorilla who weighed a ton, so after a few dodges he took a glancing hit from an angry paw swipe. Mako made a spin in mid-air and fell over.  
  
I brought the sonic disruptor back up and turned it on the ape again. Kong - I'm just going to call the monkey 'Kong' from now on, for good reason - promptly snatched Mako up by the feet and threw him at me. I wasn't able to get out of the way in time and had the air knocked out of my lungs when he slammed into me horizontally. "Bloody hell," I groaned.  
  
Kong growled and beat his fists against the road, shattering some of the asphalt. He was ready to charge us. He would have, if someone hadn't hit him in the head with loose masonry.  
  
My eyes tracked where it had come from. Katherine was near a pile of rubble, hefting another chunk of pavement. "Over here!", she called out.  
  
"Katherine, no!", I shouted, while Mako and I struggled to get untangled and back to our feet.  
  
Kong growled at her and charged. She threw the lump of concrete to no effect and ran toward us. But the thing was fast, as we'd found out, and here it had no jungle or the like to impede it. Kong snatched Katherine right up. "Katherine!"  
  
She struggled in the grip of the mighty ape's paw. "Let go of me! Doctor!"  
  
"Katherine!"  
  
A RCPD zeppelin moved overhead. Several metalbenders swung down to confront Kong as well. It let out a growl of rage and jumped over them onto the skyscraper behind us. I turned and looked up as it clambered up the building.  
  
Let me repeat that point. An abnormally huge bloody gorilla on a rampage had a lovely blonde in one hand and was climbing up a 1920s-1930s-era skyscraper.  
  
I fought down my worry for Katherine by turning to some humor. "Great, now all we need are biplanes."  
  
Lo and behold, the noise of engines drew our attention to down the road. A biplane moved down the deserted street. I recognized Asami from the black hair coming out from under her leather piloting cap and Korra from her usual aversion to the concept of shirt sleeves (she'll go without them in the Antarctic, what makes you think a little chill from wind would phase her?). "Marvelous timing, there!" I ran up to the biplane. "I need a ride up! It's got Katherine!"  
  
"I didn't put in a third seat!", Asami protested.  
  
I responded by looping an arm around the wing and climbing up into it. "I'll be fine!" Seeing what I was doing, Mako climbed up on the other wing.  
  
"But what about the traffic? With this much weight I can't take off in time!"  
  
I pulled out the sonic disruptor. "I think Mako and I can handle that."  
  
He nodded and extended a free arm.  
  
"Korra can airbend air flow over the wings for a little extra lift if we need it," I added. "Now let's go!"  
  
Asami nodded and slipped the aviator's goggles back over her eyes. The engines on the biplane throttled up and we began moving. The street ahead was empty for a way, but not long enough before we'd run into traffic. "Steady... steady... now!" I triggered Setting 4. Across from me flame erupted from Mako's fist. Korra waved her arms and increased the air flow over the wings, granting us extra lift. The biplane took off just before the lines of moving cars ahead. Once we were airborne and above the buildings Asami banked the plane and brought us back around. "Kong" had gotten to the flat top of the building at that point. A good thing; fighting him on a spire would have been a pain.  
  
"Are you sure about this?!"  
  
Asami's question made me think. Not as sure as I should be. In retrospect going up the elevators and stairs would have been safer, if longer.  
  
But with Katherine in danger, I wasn't thinking straight. I wasn't going to lose her like I'd lost Jan and Cami. I had to get to her _now_.  
  
"Pretty sure!", I shouted.  
  
"I'm coming too!" Korra stood in the seat, delicately balancing herself. Things would be so much easier if she'd learned to use those Air Nomad air gliders by now...  
  
"Ready.... ready..." I let Asami gain more altitude so she could give us a safer angle of attack. "Now!"  
  
The biplane's nose lowered toward the building. I kept my grip on the wing while my mind raced through the calculations. "Steady... steady! Now!" I let go and jumped. " _Geronimo!_ "  
  
Yes, I know, that's Eleven's line, but it just _fit_ so well.  
  
I had planned to use the sonic disruptor's force emissions setting (setting 9) to soften my landing, but such proved unnecessary. Air raced up to meet us courtesy of Korra's airbending, creating a cushion that allowed us to land without breaking anything.  
  
The skyscraper's roof was big enough to allow us some maneuvering room even with the size of the ape. It still had Katherine gripped in its left hand. "Doctor!", she screamed.  
  
"Hang on, Katherine!"  
  
Kong turned toward us and let out a howl of rage. "Oi, calm down!", I shouted back. "It's not my fault you were bloody stupid and grabbed my TARDIS!"  
  
"Hey!", Korra shouted in protest.  
  
I glanced back at Korra. "I'm talking to him... it... whatever, not you," I said.  
  
"You're trying to talk to it?" Korra made her ever-lovable "utterly confused" face.  
  
"Well, it works with Mouse," I answered.  
  
"Mouse is actually intelligent, though," Mako pointed out.  
  
Kong had stared at us through thinned eyes as we bantered. He - I'm presuming 'he' from this point on - evidently decided this was enough and roared again. "Oh, knock it off," I retorted. As he moved to charge I brought the sonic up and triggered Setting 21 again, slightly lower in intensity, as I wanted him stunned and not enraged. He still shook poor Katherine about.  
  
"Hold on!" Korra charged ahead and let out a burst of flame that struck the left arm of the ape, which she held in place. This had the unfortunate side effect of adding the smell of burnt fur to our surroundings.  
  
It also prompted the ape to throw Katherine.  
  
She let out a scream of surprise and, given the ape's aim, it's unsurprising that she ended up being thrown right into Mako. To his benefit he tried to catch her, but the velocity was too great. He went flying as well and they both went toward the ledge...  
  
...and over it.  
  
My " _Katherine!_ " and Korra's " _Mako!_ " came at about the same moment as we raced to the edge to do what we could. Mako had Katherine with one arm while using the other to create a flame jet. It wasn't nearly enough to keep them aloft, but it did slow their fall and buy time for Asami to get the biplane under them. Mako shifted the flame jet enough to give them a rough, but workable, landing in the rear seat of the aircraft.  
  
Well, that part was over, all that was left was a killer gorilla that was in a state of permanent rage, and we had a space of a hundred feet by about a hundred and thirty feet to move around in to avoid getting knocked over ourselves.  
  
"Where did this thing come from?", Korra asked.  
  
"Alternate Earth, quite a bit of megafauna on that world. If we can get enough metalbenders..."  
  
The gorilla smashed the roof with enough force that he could get his hands on a chunk of material to throw at us. He roared and tossed it. Korra sent out a concentrated gust of air that threw it back in his face. That, as you imagine, only made him that much angrier. He jumped up and down in fury and charged. Korra rolled under him and used airbending to send him over her head, opening me up for a Setting 4 shot that sent him flying toward a ledge. It might have made things depressingly easier if the beast had fallen over. But it did not.  
  
Talking to it didn't work for a reason; it really was too dumb. This wasn't actually King Kong, after all, merely his dunce hat-wearing cousin... or copy... or some such. And I say it was dumb because it... promptly tried the same tactic again. We repeated our response and sent it flying again. I looked about. More zeppelins were already showing up and the first one was pulling up above the edge of the building.  
  
Another charge. This time Korra side-stepped it with a poise that would have won Tenzin's approval. A powerful gust of air knocked the ape off his feet.  
  
Metal wires lashed out from the zeppelins and wrapped around Kong as he tried to stand. Kong let out a howl again and struggled. The metalbenders on the zeppelins rooted themselves with their own metalbending skills to their craft to avoid being pulled off. "I wish the stun setting worked on that thing," I mumbled, lowering my sonic disruptor. "If we can tranquilize it I can tie it to the TARDIS and take it home."  
  
"It's going to take a lot of tranquilizer to keep that overgrown goat gorilla down."  
  
"Yes, well.... Oi, no no no!"  
  
Kong had gotten a hand on the cables and was using it to pull. The metalbenders bent low in the open port of the zeppelin. Their anchors screeched and they cried out, trying to keep the monstrous ape from pulling their arms out of their sockets or ripping them out of their footholds, whichever came first.  
  
"On second thought, we might not have time for tranquilizers." Korra reached down over and concentrated. Some of the roof ripped free - earthen enough for her earthbending to effect - and she lobbed it at the ape. It collided with it and disintegrated, making the creature howl louder.  
  
At this point the zeppelin fired its own metal wire to snare the creature and relieve pressure from the stressed metalbenders. This proved a mistake when the creature caught those wires too and pulled. "Oh no no no no!" I brought up the disruptor again and used setting four, trying to get the creature to let go. He roared and wouldn't let go.  
  
Korra threw several more stones that were set into the roof, battering the beast and sending it toward the ledge. She was trying to knock it out with shots to the head, to no avail. But she was driving it closer and closer to the ledge. When she ran out of usable stones she alternated between fire and air blasts. I pitched in with setting 4 as best I could. "Detach from it!", I shouted to the metalbenders. One by one they did so, metalbending their wires loose. The zeppelin tried to retract but couldn't; Kong's main grip was on it even as we pushed him back to the edge.  
  
We were going to kill him. That was horrible, but it couldn't be avoided. This thing was simply too feral and he was going to hurt someone badly if we didn't get him put down.  
  
The zeppelin was getting pulled along by Kong as he teetered toward the edge. In desperation the zeppelin crew detached the wire from its source. Which was, ultimately, a Bad Thing.  
  
Even as the wire popped loose Korra let out one of her really good battle cries and summoned up a big enough gust of wind to blow the thing all the way to the edge. I triggered Setting 4 one last time.  
  
That did the trick. Kong howled and pitched over the edge, his arms wheeling....  
  
...and still attached to the metal cord from the zeppelin, which came down around Korra. The end struck the side of her head. She cried out and fell over, dazed to the point of unconsciousness. The rest wrapped around her and tightened when she didn't resist, pinning her arms to her sides. She didn't have the chance to hit the ground before the cord pulled her to the ledge.  
  
"Korra!" I raced after her. The earthbender zeppelin was still maneuvering in a turn to regain control and the metalbenders couldn't see what happened. The other zeppelins were too far away for their occupants to help. I got a hand around her upper arm before she went over. But Kong had too much momentum and was too bloody heavy as it was. I was yanked along for the ride as a jolt of pain went through my right shoulder, telling me I had dislocated it again.  
  
Suddenly I was in freefall, one hand still on Korra. Falling off another skyscraper... this day was complete bollocks! But I had no time to complain, no time to do anything. Korra was out cold for the moment and bound up tightly enough that even if her Avatar State kicked in I wasn't confident she could save herself, much less both of us. So it would have to be me.  
  
I triggered Setting 14 and focused it on the metal cable just below Korra's feet. The metal turned red hot for a moment before snapping due to the heat. I turned Korra away from the building so my body would take the initial impact and, with a split second calculation of my relative velocity and the angles needed, brought the disruptor up and triggered Setting 9 at max power. It shifted our momentum laterally, sending us flying into the building....  
  
....and if I was not a Time Lord, I would probably have smashed myself into the building and broken several bones before resuming our fatal fall. But I am a Time Lord (thankfully) and my calculations threaded the needle and I drove us into a window instead. I felt the painful impact of glass on my back that shattered on our impact, sending us flying into a vacant office room with a jarring enough impact that I lost my grip on Korra, who rolled to a stop. Transferring velocity laterally had helped slow us and the glass had absorbed some of our kinetic energy, but there was enough left to send me flying through the room and into a desk that toppled over on me, adding to my agony. I laid there for a moment, huffing, ignoring the pain in my dislocated shoulder and the shards of glass in my back and neck and legs and, yes, _my arse too_. And the bruises. Oh the bruises.  
  
It didn't compare to the last time I fell off a skyscraper, at least. But don't let you think that didn't keep it from still being _bloody painful_.  
  
I groaned and tried to force the desk off of me with just my left arm. "Great, now I've dislocated both arms," I muttered to myself as I strained. I twisted my legs and used them for leverage sufficient to get out from under the desk. I looked over to where Korra was starting to stir and crawled over. With my right arm useless I had to use my left hand to run the sonic screwdriver over the injury on her head. _Please don't be a brain injury_ was all I could think as I waited for the results. I let out a sigh of relief when the results showed me that, thankfully, Korra's head being thick wasn't just a metaphorical character trait. There was no brain damage or skull damage, just a terrible bruise. With waterbending healing and some medigel she would be just fine.  
  
I was unwrapping the cable when she groaned and opened her eyes. Korra sat up and rubbed at her forehead. "Ow...." She looked around. "What happened?"  
  
"Kong tried to take you with him and I stopped him," I explained. "Welcome to the Skyscraper Sky Dive club, Korra. It's not my favorite club, frankly."  
  
She moaned again. She looked over to me and, as ruffled as she looked, I probably looked much worse. "What happened to you?"  
  
"A dislocated shoulder, more bruises than I care to count, and glass stuck in various pieces of me. Including my arse." I used my left hand to rub my rear end and managed to pull out the offending shard. "Ah, much better." I held up the shard and plinked it away. "Bloody monkey."  
  
"Well, this beats more meditation lessons from Tenzin," Korra joked while putting her hands on my right shoulder. "Cami showed me how to handle this." With an expression of effort and a grunt, Korra put enough pressure on the shoulder to snap it back into place.  
  
I responded by sucking in breath and ignoring the pain as best as I could. "Thank you. I can never get used to that. Both shoulders now. A regular matching set." I chuckled. "If I never fall off a bloody skyscraper again, I can die a happy man."  
  
"So we killed it?"  
  
"Yes. Had to be done." I almost relayed the famous line of beauty killing the beast, but movers - movies - had yet to be invented here and it would probably lose something in translation.  
  
Korra rubbed at a slight cut on her cheek where a small glass chard had drawn blood. Her smile turned from mirth to softness as her arms wrapped around my shoulders. I matched the embrace as she said, softly, "Thank you for saving me, Doctor."  
  
"You're welcome, Korra," I answered. After the embrace continued for a moment I winced. "....and I think you just found a cracked rib. Ow ow ow ow..."  
  
  
  
  
My injured condition was probably the only thing that kept me from getting thrown into a metal cage by a very irate Chief Bei Fong. As it was I handed over much of the gold I had in the TARDIS as payment for damages before we were carried off to Air Acolyte Island and some recuperation.  
  
We were seated - so to speak - at the dining table with the family. "So you guys got to do all that and I missed out?" Bolin gave us a displeased look.  
  
"It wasn't fun, Bolin," Mako countered. "That thing was dangerous."  
  
"Still, it was a shame it had to be destroyed." Tenzin took a bite of his steamed meal. "I can only guess what went through the poor thing's mind at being in such a strange place."  
  
"I'm just happy it didn't cause even more damage." Mako's expression lightened as he turned his head to face me. "I haven't had the chance to say thank you for catching Korra."  
  
I swallowed a bite. "Oh, no need for that. Besides, you caught Katherine."  
  
"Mako gets all the girls." Bolin's wistful remark earned him a look of sibling displeasure and brought a blush to Katherine's cheeks. "Weren't you younger when you were here last time?"  
  
"It was my fourteenth birthday, yes," Katherine replied. "The Doctor tells me it can take getting used to, meeting people who have moved through time differently." She smiled at me. "Sometimes I think he literally went from one of my birthdays to the next."  
  
I smiled slightly in reply, since she was actually quite true. I _had_ done that, when I wasn't busy with the quantum compiler device I'd used to restore Madoka. It was all I had to look forward to at that time, when the loneliness after losing Cami and Jan was crushing me.  
  
"I'd like to go some time, Doctor," Jinora asked. "Could you take me into the past to see Grandpa Aang?"  
  
Tenzin gave me a quiet look that was as close as he'd come to demanding I say no. I opted for replying, "It's something to consider for the future" to avoid offending either.  
  
"I'd love to go on a trip in the TARDIS too," Korra said wistfully, playing with some greens on her plate. She gave an irritated look at Tenzin, who sighed. Oi. I forgot how bad their relationship was getting.  
  
"Perhaps when your training is complete," Tenzin answered, giving me yet another look of "Do not contradict me, please".  
  
"It would be safer that way," I agreed. "I've told you before about the risks of taking your Avatar Spirit out of your world."  
  
"I know, I know..." Korra looked down at her plate. "But hearing you talk about all of these places you've gotten to see with the TARDIS, and when all I've seen is Chicago and Arendelle..."  
  
"Say, how is Molly?" That was from Bolin, who was trying and failing to not look eager. "I mean, just to ask. How are they all?"  
  
"They are doing quite well," I answered, eager to get us off the subject lest Korra and Tenzin end up in an argument. "Admittedly things have not always been well. Michael was crippled in a battle with dark forces and has given up his Sword. But he is happy with his family. Harry is doing well, still setting buildings on fire..." Katherine chuckled at that as I went on.  
  
  
  
  
I was still feeling tender that night when it was time to go. Katherine and I walked out to where the TARDIS was parked on one of the temple's vistas facing Republic City. As we got close to the TARDIS Korra and the others walked up and joined us. "Doctor, before you go, I wanted to ask something."  
  
We turned back. "Certainly, Korra."  
  
"What happened to Jan and Cami?"  
  
I let out a breath and closed my eyes. "It's... it's a long story, Korra. It's... honestly I..."  
  
"I'd like to know too, Doctor," Katherine asked. I turned toward her and saw her curious expression mixed with concern. "You never talk about it. I know there's a reason. but wouldn't it be better to share it?"  
  
I sighed and felt pain in my hearts. I could feel a tear in my eye as I flashed back to that day in Main Engineering on _Voyager_. With my perfect Time Lord memory I saw the looks of horror and terror on my Companions' faces once again. "I..." I walked over to the railing and looked out at the beautiful golden skyline of Republic City at night. "It was my fault. I was grabbing pieces for a machine I needed and the TARDIS took damage. We materialized on a ship called the _Voyager_ as it was being attacked and.... it was the Borg."  
  
"The who?", Asami asked.  
  
"Think of an entire civilization under the control of a single hive mind, every individual surgically altered with cybernetics - with machine pieces in their bodies - and with their individuality crushed under the strength of the Collective Hive Mind. Every person turned into nothing more than a drone without a bit of free will. And with a single injection, they can spread microscopic machines into a person's body, where they begin building the cybernetic implants to convert someone into one of them. The end result is always the same: Complete and total assimilation by the Collective. Everything unique about you is crushed by he weight of the Hive Mind."  
  
"That sounds... freaky," Bolin said. "People with machines in their bodies?"  
  
Korra and Asami looked the most horrified. Understandably so; they were the closest to my former companions. "Doctor, are you saying these Borg took them?", Asami asked.  
  
"Yes," I answered. "We saved _Voyager_ but I couldn't get to them before the Borg transported them off. I'll never forget the terror I saw on their faces..."  
  
Katherine's eyes filled with compassion. "Oh Doctor."  
  
"Doctor, we have to save them!", Korra insisted, tears forming in her eyes. "Let's..."  
  
"I did, Korra," I said quickly, seeking to reassure them all. "I used some Borg nanites - their microscopic machines - and changed their coding. The... commands that operated their hive mind. I tore off entire chunks of their Collective, isolated the ship with Jan and Cami, and got them out."  
  
I saw relief in their features. Katherine shook her head. "Thank God you saved them. I can only imagine how horrible it was."  
  
"It was very horrible. Cami had almost lost her mind by the time I got to them," I said. "And that was the end for them. They didn't want to travel anymore. They couldn't. It had all been so very terrible for them... I gave them a nice new home and wealth to live comfortably. They're very happy now."  
  
"Thank you for doing that for them," Asami said. She did seem disappointed. Korra did as well; the implication was clear that they would never see Jan and Cami again.  
  
"I did what I needed to. For them." I looked over at Katherine and tried to keep the fear off of my face.  
  
"You always do," Korra said. She gave me a hug. "Just like you were there for me today."  
  
"Like I always will be," I promised.... a promise I should have known better to give. "Remember, all you have to do is give me a call when you need my help. And I will come."  
  
When I had given her the temporal beacon that would let her call me, I had warned her there were things in the future that had to happen, that I couldn't stop. But I must admit... I no longer felt that way. If she called me for help against Unalaq and Vaatu I intended to come. The same with any threat that came afterward. If Korra was in trouble and I knew about it, I was going to _be there_. Just like I would for every friend and ally I'd made in my travels.  
  
  
  
  
After we shifted the TARDIS out I took to the hot tub to soothe my bruises. Katherine entered the library with her bags packed. "Ready to go home?", I asked her.  
  
"Never," she insisted. After that Katherine sighed and lowered herself into a chair. "But I know I have to. Frankly Victor would have half the Lyran nation yelling at him without me."  
  
"Yes, a sad thing there. Have you ever talked him into being more of a civilian?"  
  
"He can't get his mind off the Clans."  
  
"Ah. Regrettable but also understandable." I shifted in the tub and let out my own sigh, feeling a little better already. Korra's waterbending healing had set my rib and healed the glass cuts, at least, but the rest of the damage would take time. Not much time since I was a healthy Time Lord, but still some time.  
  
"Doctor, I never imagined what happened with Jan and Cami," Katherine said. "I'm so sorry for all of you."  
  
"Thank you," I answered softly. "I'm just thankful I saved them."  
  
"So you _were_ jumping from birthday to birthday for me, weren't you?", Katherine asked. "You didn't want to be alone."  
  
I remained silent for a moment before deciding on honesty. Katherine deserved that. I nodded. "Yes. I couldn't stand it otherwise."  
  
"Don't worry about it," she urged. "I can understand. And I love being out here with you."  
  
"I know you do. I...." I stopped at that point. I couldn't give voice to my worry that one day a monster would get her too.  
  
"Doctor, I'm here of my own free will," she said, undoubtedly realizing my thoughts. "I know you'll always do your best to save me if I'm threatened. Please don't let what happened to them change how we travel. Please."  
  
I sighed and nodded, smiling weakly. "I won't, Katherine. Just promise me you'll be careful."  
  
"I will."  
  
"No more throwing rocks at giant gorillas!"  
  
Katherine giggled at that. "Okay, if you must spoil my fun."  
  
"Oi! You'll give me heart attacks at this rate, young lady!"  
  
She kept giggling, and I admit I enjoyed the sound so much I laughed. We'd been through a few dangerous moments ourselves already and Katherine had shown she could handle it. I could trust her in that.  
  
But I swore to myself that I would never, ever let a monster take her like one had taken Jan and Cami. I would never allow that same mask of terror I still saw on their faces to come to hers.  
  
 _Never._  
  
And if anything tried to hurt her like that... well, I might go farther than I ever had before if I had to in order to stop that.  
  
No. Not might. I _would_.  
  
And so I hoped I'd never have to try, because there was no telling what I might end up doing to protect her.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I couldn't help myself with this one. With the King Kong references, I mean. If you're here looking for Korrasami hints and frowning, as the date indicated, this was written before the series ended, and I was *not* a Korrasami shipper, or really a shipper at all.
> 
> Of course, the finale then came...


End file.
